Recipes of the week

We made no bake cookies tonight with a recipe from my friend Katie's blog. They were so good, that I was inspired to share a few of my tried and true favorites. I dedicate my cookie recipe to her and her passion for yummy stuff.

PeAnUt BuTtEr ChOcOlAtE CoOkIeS
These cookies are a little more complicated than the nobake kind, but totally worth the effort. They are not as hard to make as they sound. They remind me of a reese's cup in cookie form with the peanut butter surprise in the middle.
1/2 C. Butter or margerine
1/2 C. sugar

1/2 C. packed brown sugar
1 C. creamy peanut butter divided
1 egg lightly beaten
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 C. all purpose flour
1/2 C. baking cocoa
1/2 tsp. baking soda
3/4 C. confectioners sugar
In a large mixing bowl, cream butter, sugars, and 1/4 C. peanut butter. Add egg and vanilla; mix well. Combine flour, cocoa, and baking soda; add to creamed mixture and mix well. Blend confectioners sugar with remaining peanut butter until smooth. Roll into 24 balls, 1" each. Divide dough into 24 pieces; flatten each into a 3" circle. Place one peanut butter ball on each circle; bring edges over to completely cover it. (Dough may crack; reshape cookies as needed.) Place cookies with seam side down on ungreased baking sheets. Flatten each cookie slightly with the bottom of a glass dipped in sugar. Bake 375 degrees for 7-9 minutes or until set. Cool on wire racks. Yields 2 dozen

Lil Cheddar Meatloaves
My boys love this recipe and although I am not a big meatloaf fan usually, I enjoy this one. It's fun to have the meatloaves made in individual serving sizes and makes it easy to reheat leftovers. And cheese added to anything makes it great. This is a very quick and easy recipe.

1 egg
3/4 C. milk
1 C. (4 oz.) Shredded Cheddar Cheese
1/2 C. quick cooking oats
1/2 C. chopped onion
1 tsp. salt
1 lb. lean ground beef
2/3 C. ketchup

1/2 C. packed brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp. prepared mustard
In a bowl, beat the egg and milk. Stir in cheese, oats, onion, and salt. Add beef and mix well. Shape into eight loaves; place in a greased 13"x9"x2" baking dish. Combine ketchup, brown sugar, and mustard.; spoon over loaves. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until the meat is no longer pink. Yields 8 servings.

I wish mine tasted that good!

Just imagine being able to get that much satisfaction from your thumb. Seriously! A few moments of the thumb solves all the major crisis that may be going on in your life. And it makes you cuter. Only if you're little though. There are some many little kid behaviors that I wish I could get away with. Hollering to the top of your lungs in the parking garage just to hear the echo, asking the bakery lady for a free cookie and actually getting it, throwing a fit in the middle of wal-mart because you can't get that thing you just have to have, dancing in your underwear at any given time of day, going to sleep whenever and wherever you want, and my list goes on. Why didn't I fully appreciate these things when I was younger? What child-like things would you love to do if they were socially acceptable?

Family resemblance?

I hear it all the time...Caden looks JUST LIKE CHRIS. Yeah, I know, and yes, I did want a little boy that looked just like his dad. Because, if it's not obvious by the fact that I married him, and had 3 kids with him, I think he's pretty darn cute. But, just when you think I've given in and accepted that I get no credit for the 9 long months that I carried him and the ginormous 9lbs.3oz. that he weighed at birth, I surprise you. I make another attempt to claim my prize, or uh, my kid that is. As I was cutting Caden's hair, I got the sides buzzed off and stopped to be funny, only to realize that it reminded me of a picture of my dad when he was a young boy. Any of you guys on the Copeland side see it? Here's the pic. And I did finish the haircut after I took this cute shot of him.

Buddies

Todd, Lindsay, and Josh came down yesterday so I could do Rapunzel's...oops I mean Lindsay's hair. Hudson thought Josh was pretty funny and I think Josh may have been slightly traumatized by the whole situation. First, this lady that sounded like his mom, but had shiny foil all over her head was holding him, and then a slobbering chubby kid was trying his best to grab a handful of what little hair he has! But he's a survivor. A real trooper. A man's man. You get the picture. Oh yeah, and aren't they adorable!

Boston's cardiology follow-up

Bosty went to the doctor today for a follow up on his heart. He did sooooo good. He let the doctors do everything they needed and didn't cry or anything. They were going to do his echocardiogram in a couple weeks with full sedation, but he was cooperating so well today that they did it today with no sedation at all. So after 2/1/2 hours of testing, we got the OK to go 2 years between appointments now and he has no restrictions on activity or anything. We feel so blessed! So, I asked Bosty what he wanted for lunch since he was so good and he said a sammich. I asked what kind of sandwich and he said a chocate sammich. A boy after my own heart. A CHOCOLATE SANDWICH! He settled for a cheeseburger kids meal with a chocolate frosty (which he ate first-because he knew he could today).

You can't help it...

You're smiling aren't you?!

Happy birthday Caden

Today, my biggest boy is celebrating his 7th birthday! Yes, I'm a little wierded out by that, but that's a whole other post. This one's about him. Being Caden's parents has given us some of the most amazing experiences in the world.Anyone who knows him, would agree that he is an outstanding child. So what great things will this birthday bring? Well, for starters, this is what he looked like when he woke up this morning...

Birthday spankins went a little overboard huh? Just kidding. Don't turn us in to Child and family services! He had an allergic reaction to something he ate. My fault...lesson learned. In the hustle and bustle of gettibg party things ready, I stopped for Chinese take-out Wednesday night. Caden wanted left-overs for lunch Thursday, and by the time I picked him up from school, he was covered in welts. Benadryl cleared them right up, but they came back overnight. So we called his Dr. this morning who is out of town, and they gave us an appointment with her associate. Guess what...He was chinese, and when he asked if Caden had been exposed to anything out of the ordinary, I had to tell him I thought the Chinese food did it! More specifically, the overload of MSG. Yeah, I knew better. Luckily he and I both understood that the not so authentic chinese takeout is not the same as genuine bonafide chinese food. I was still embarrased. So, more benadryl...and a party tonight.

I think I must have lost my mind. For some reason I thought it was a good idea to invite the entire basketball team!
After a dinner of T-rex meat (dino nuggets), triceratops bones (white cheetos), velociraptor eggs (deviled eggs), stegasaurus spikes (apple wedges), and molten lava (punch), we went outside for a volcano explosion (mentos and diet coke with a paper mache volcano for looks!)

Then we headed back inside for presents, and an edible volcano cake, and dino dig (a small dinosaur buried in each scoop of icecream.

Then we headed out to the Museum of Ancient Life for some more dinosaur madness. I forgot my camara, but our wonderful family never fails to take care of us...so when they send me the pics, I'll post them! Thanks to aunts and uncles, and big cousins, we were actually able to enjoy the party despite the insanity! We love you Caden. Happy birthday!